I need to follow the lead of "Hung" and become a gigolo I think, because this slaving away for the Man shit isn't cutting it anymore. Sure, to (roughly) quote a brilliant man, they pay me good for the stuff that I do and I can't complain when the checks come through. But the partners, they just don't understand that the TCAs are going on right now, and while there's not a lot of big TV news coming out of all the panels there, there is news that I'd like to talk about (and non-TCA TV news, too). But oh-no-no, unless you figure out a way to bill a client for that shit, get back to reading those patents, drafting that discovery, doing them menial chores and sitting through those endlessmotherfuckerwhydonttheyend conference calls.

All of which is to say, I'm going to mostly just throw a bunch of news tidbits at you all to see what sticks.

First and foremost -- Paula Abdul is out. Late last night, she announced on her (fucking) Twitter page that "with sadness in my heart," she was leaving the show (that sadness was soon pushed right out by copious medication). Fox soon confirmed that they were also sad, but don't let the door hit your crazy ass on the way out. I quit watching this suckfest last year, but this still brings just a little joy to my black heart (although Alan Sepinwall, the only critic I routinely agree with, argues that Dawg or Kara should've been booted first).

Second, the TV critics generally do a better job than the Emmy's when it comes to awards, but this year's winners were a mixed bag. "Battlestar Galactica," while a good show, wasn't the program of the year. "True Blood" wasn't outstanding, let alone the outstanding new program, "Mad Men" should've lost to its network sibling "Breaking Bad" for best drama, and "The Big Bang Theory" is amusing, but not the best comedy on TV. But they did get some shit right, especially giving Bryan Cranston the drama acting nod, giving HBO's amazing "The Alzheimer's Project" some love, and tossing a career achievement to Betty White. She funny, that Betty White.

Speaking of the Emmys, whodaddy! You heard about the fucking kerfuffle CBS and the Emmys have walked into? They're planning to pre-tape eight of the shittier awards so they can time-shift them, editing them down to trim the broadcast time. And man alive are industry folks pissed. A 100-odd writers/showrunners signed a letter calling bullshit on this because one of the time-shifted awards is going to be the best drama writing award. HBO and the cable networks are also tweaked because several of the award categories are their bread-and-butter movie/miniseries categories. And the directors guild is irked because directors are always fucking grumpy. CBS tried to justify it at a TCA panel presentation to the TV critics by saying they were mainly just going to trim out walking-to-the-stage time, and meandering portions of acceptance speeches. But folks don't seem to be buying it, and many see this as little more than a further erosion of the awards in favor of popularity over quality (because the Emmy ratings have been suck of late), catering to what the lowest common denominator audience viewer wants.

To which I say, what-the-fuck-ever -- the Emmys lost all relevancy over the course of five season, when they gave "The Wire" a mere two fucking nominations, and no wins. Best show on TV. Zilch. Meaningless, cock-knocking garbage, that gold fucking statue is.

OK, more Hodgepodge in a bit....

Seth is a Senior Editor and sometime critic. You may email him here or follow him on Twitter.